Becky's story

Paul Gordon

At United Response, we pride ourselves on having truly passionate and dedicated staff that go above and beyond their roles to ensure they are providing the best possible support.

Lenny lives in Dover and is supported by United Response. He is a very jolly man and well known in the community. Despite being well known he can sometimes feel very lonely. He has spent most of his life moving from place to place.

Becky works for a different team to the one that supports Lenny, but they met on the bus travelling to The Community Network, a service run by United Response in Kent.

A growing friendship

Although Becky did not directly support Lenny, they started to meet for lunch every couple of weeks. Knowing Becky would be at certain events and groups within the local area encouraged Lenny to come along.

As Becky and Lenny continued to meet up, Becky's husband joined the cast of the Community Network Christmas pantomime. He soon met Lenny at rehearsals and they got chatting. One day Lenny announced: "I'm coming to yours next Monday for a roast dinner with the family!” Becky looked round in shock as her husband walked through and said: "that's alright isn’t it?!"

Lenny spent the following Monday having a day with Becky and her family. For the first time in ages, Lenny had a family dinner and was an honorary member of the family for the day. He got to see what it's like to pick the kids up from the school gates and sat with Becky’s husband and talk about important things like cars and football!

Lenny and Becky continue to regularly meet up, with a friendship blossoming and with Lenny’s confidence continuing to grow.

This is just one of the relationships that has been formed through the dedication and commitment of highly skilled support workers. Find out more about the staff at United Response.

Ahead of the release of the VODG report, ‘Closing the Disability and Employment Gap’, United Response’s chief executive Tim Cooper, spoke at the Learning Disability Today exhibition in London about closing the disability employment gap.

Gary has been a support worker with United Response for three years. He has cerebral palsy and, alongside his day job, actively competes in strongman competitions - proving that disability is no barrier to success.

Become a support worker for United Response and help disabled people in their communities at home. You’ll help them cook, clean, pay bills, apply for jobs, make friends and a thousand things in between.

Easy News is the first news magazine designed to be accessible for people with learning disabilities, aimed to encourage discussion around news stories and keep readers informed about the world around them. Read the latest issue here.

We work with young people and adults with a wide range of learning disabilities across England and Wales. To plan the right kind of support, we work closely with each individual and the people who are important to them. In this way, they get the support they want, in the way they want.

Although we support people across the whole range of learning disabilities, we have particular expertise in supporting people with more complex needs – including people who other agencies have not been able to support. We have a strong track record in supporting people to move on and to enjoy a better quality of life.